Youth football conundrum not easy to tackle

“Let’s do what we can do,” Herring said. “… Let’s take unnecessary contact out of the game. I wish I knew exactly how much that was.”

Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Sports Legacy Institute, a non-profit organization with the mission of “solving the concussion crisis,” applauds some of USA Football’s efforts but believes not enough is being done.

“Right now, I think it’s going poorly,” Nowinski said of the movement to increase safety in youth football. “A lot of the changes we know should be made are not being made. I think we are putting the health of the game ahead of the health of the players.”

Dr. Henry Cantu, a neurosurgeon who co-founded the Sports Legacy Institute with Nowinski and is an advisor to the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee, has suggested children not engage in contact sports until age 14.

Nowinski cautioned that his organization is working not to ruin football but to preserve the sport in a safe manner. However, where Herring and others see a “Proceed With Caution” sign, there are many like Nowinski and Cantu who view the unknowns regarding young brains as more of a temporary “Stop” sign.

“It’s important that research accelerates,” Nowinski said. “But no matter what level of evidence people claim there is or isn’t, I think everybody agrees today that it’s not a good idea to hit a child in the head hundreds of times.”

Nowinski argues that there are several practices in the teaching and playing of football that were accepted in the past that have since come to be understood as dangerous. That was something readily acknowledged by some of the youth commissioners attending the forum at Chargers Park, as well as the fact that many of those practices are still employed on youth fields.

“The lynchpin in all this,” said Scott Hallenbeck, USA Football’s Executive Director, is to teach coaches to teach the game properly.”

USA Football does not sanction children under six years old playing tackle football. The organization’s guidelines also suggest an increase in contact in practice on a two-year continuum, meaning slightly more for 10 year olds than eight year olds and slightly more at 12 than 10.

But not even the most passionate football supporter will try to argue science might come to light in the future that would prompt further drastic changes in the game.

“We have to do something in the interim -- be the leaders, then be prepared and committed that if evidence-based data comes out, then we should respond,” Hallenbeck said. “… (Dr. Cantu) has brought some real progressive, distinct angles to this discussion. It’s made all of us think carefully about what are the right steps to take. It’s very important, that question of age … If evidence-based data comes out that you shouldn’t play until 12, then you shouldn’t play until 12. We’re not there yet.”